BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Great Bend's girls roared to its typical fast start with an 18-4 lead over Larned Tuesday.
The Panthers cruised past the Indians 54-21 with its most complete basketball game of the season.
Point guard Sydney Unruh spearheaded the Panthers' full-court pressure that converted 26 Larned turnovers into countless transition points. Unruh scored seven of her 15 points in the opening quarter.
Allyson Kaiser scored 10 points and Halle Latham added eight points for the Panthers (3-1) off to their best start in several years. The Panthers used their quality depth to keep the defensive pressure on the Indians. The Panthers did an exceptional job passing the basketball to teammates for quality shots.
"We like playing an up-tempo game," said Great Bend coach Cindy Beck. "It was great to have our lineup back tonight.
For a change, the diminutive Panthers dominated the rebounding against a young team that is vertically challenged like the Panthers. The Panthers held Larned to six of 33 shooting, 18 percent.
"We had girls battling on the boards," said Great Bend coach Beck. "We talk about rebounding all the time."
Larned (1-4) won its opener against Pratt, but played three quality teams against St. John, Spearville and Bucklin last week at the Keady Basketball Classic.
Jadyn Pinkston scored five points and Kathryn Holt, Elizabeth Herrera, Kiana Meyer and Akielah Collins each scored three points. Herrera's opening 3-pointer gave the Indians a 3-0 lead.
"We're competing, but we are so inexperienced and play so many players," said Larned coach Ashley Crosby. "We're playing with players who played junior high into varsity games. They don't have the skill level to play at that level yet. We're just not ready for that yet."
Great Bend (3-1) plays at Emporia Friday and Larned journeys to Pratt-Skyline Saturday.
Larned 4 6 4 7 – 21
Great Bend 18 17 13 6 – 54
LARNED (1-4)–Kathryn Holt 1-2 0-0 3, Herrera 1-5 0-0 3, Meyer 1-5 0-0 3, Collins 0-1 36 3, Abby Holt 12 0-0 2, Upson 0-0 1-2 1, Tapia 0-6 1-4 1, MacMahon 0-2 0-0 0, Lovesee 0-1 0-0 0, Krehbiel 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 6-30 6-14 21
GREAT BEND (3-1)–Sydney Unruh 6-12 2-3 15, Allyson Kaiser 4-5 1-2 10, Latham 3-8 0-2 8, Smith 2-5 0-2 4, Fletchall 1-1 0-0 3, Elliott 1-3 0-0 2, Harbaugh 1-5 0-0 2, Hall 0-3 0-0 0, Hannah Loomis 0-4 0-0 0, Emma Loomis 0-5 0-0 0, Totals 22-60 4-13 54
3-pointers–L 3-11 (Meyer 1-2, K. Holt 1-3, Herrera 1-5, A. Holt 0-1), GB 6-21 (Latham 2-4, Fletchall 1-1, Spray 1-2, Kaiser 1-2, Unruh 0-4, Smith 0-2, H. Loomis 0-1, Warren 0-1, Elliott 0-2, E. Loomis 0-2).
